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FRANCIS   BACON 


AND     THE 


MUSE    OF    TRAGEDY 


EDWIN    RKKD 


FOK     I'RIVATE     CIRCULATION 


BOSTON 

(iro.    H.    Ei.i.is,    Printer,    141    Franklin   Sireet 
1898 


FRANCIS    BACON    AND    THE   MUSE 
OF    TRAGEDY. 


Francis  Bacon  died  April  9,  1626.  In  his  last  will  he 
made  disposition  of  his  unpublished  writings  as  follows  :  — 

I  desire  my  executors,  especially  my  brother  Constable  and  also  Mr. 
Bosvile,  presently  after  my  decease,  to  take  into  their  hands  all  my 
papers  whatsoever,  which  are  either  in  cabinets,  boxes,  or  presses,  and 
them  to  seal  up  till  they  may  at  their  leisure  peruse  them. 

Some  time  after  Bacon's  death  (probably  in  1627),  in  ac- 
cordance with  this  provision  of  the  will,  Mr.  Bosvile,  or  (as 
he  is  better  known)  Sir  William  Boswell,  British  Minister  to 
Holland,  havin^j^ossession  of  the  manuscripts,  carried  them 
with  him  to  theHague,  and  there  committed  them  to  his 
learned  friend,  Isaac  Gruter,  for  publication.  Gruter  took 
the  matter  in  hand,  but  determined  first  of  all  to  reissue  for 
Continental  readers  the  works  of  Ijacon  which  had  previously 
been  prmted  in  England.  Accordingly,  in  anticipation  of 
his  work  on  the  manuscripts,  he  edited  and  published  the 
following: :  — 


Sapientia  Veterum,  Leyden, 

1633 

Historia  Ventorum,         " 

1638 

Essays,                             " 

1641 
1644 

Novum  Organum            " 

1645 

De  Augmentis                 " 

1645 

History  of  Henry  VII.  " 

1647 

Sylva  Sylvarum                ■' 

1648 

New  Atlantis 

164S 

Novum  Organum 

1650 

De  Augmentis                 " 

1652 

M'^S7^6H 


In  1653  Gruter  finally  gave  to  the  world,  in  a  book  printed 
at  Amsterdam  and  entitled  Fnincisci  Bacoui  dc  Venilauiio 
Scripta  in  Naturali  ct  Univcrsali  PJiilosophia,  nineteen  of 
the  manuscripts  with  which  he  had  been  intrusted  by 
Boswell.  In  an  "Address  to  the  Reader,"  prefixed  to  the 
volume,  he  tells  us  that  he  and  Boswell  had  had  many  long, 
confidential  interviews  on  the  subject,  in  consequence  of 
which,  as  it  appears,  some  of  the  papers  in  the  collection 
were,  for  reasons  not  given,  withheld  from  the  public.  The 
exact  statement  is  as  follows  : —  "~         . 

All  these  hitherto  unpublished  writings  you  owe,  dear  reader,  to  the 
most  noble  William  Boswell,  to  whom  they  were  devised  by  Bacon  him- 
self, together  with  others  of  a  political  and  moral  nature,  which  are  now, 
by  gift  of  the  deceased,  in  my  private  keeping,  and  which  are  not  to  be 
printed  for  a  long  time  to  come.* 

That  Gruter  regarded  these  reserved  papers,  whatever 
they  were,  as  important,  and  that  he  was  compelled  against 
his  will  to  keep  them  back  in  the  dark,  we  know  beyond  a 
doubt;  for  on  March  20,  1655,  he  wrote  to  Sir  William 
Rawley,  Bacon's  old  chaplain  and  amanuensis  in  London,  a 
letter  in  which  he  expressed  great  impatience  because  he 
was  not  permitted  to  publish  them.      He  said  :  — 

At  present  I  will  restrain  my  impatient  desires,  in  the  hope  of  seeing 
some  day  those  things  which,  now  committed  to  faithful  privacy,  await 
the  time  wlien  they  may  safely  see  the  light  and  not  be  stilled  in  their 
birth.f 

What  Was  the  nature  of  that  secret  ?  What  was  discov- 
ered among  Bacon's  private  papers  after  his  death,  which  his 
executors  were  unwilling,  but  which  Isaac  Gruter,  the  last- 
known  custodian  of  the  papers,  was  impatient  to  make 
public  ? 

*  For  a  copy  of  Gruter's  "Address  to  the  Reader,"  in  tlie  uriginal  Latin,  with  tlie  sentence 
translated  above,  in  italics,  see  Appendix  A. 

t  We  give  this  sentence  in  l.atin,  alsu,  as  (jruter  wrote  it ;  Nhhc  vota  impatientis  dcsiilerii 
sKsteniabo  sfie  iili<iuaiido  ^lidciiiii,  ./iia-  jidis  iiumdata  latcbris  occasionem  expectant  ut  tuto  in 

litceni  edticitiitiir,  tioti  eiieciiiiiir  mffociito  fiartu. 


5 

The  fact  that  there  did  exist  a  secret  of  some  kind  in 
Bacon's  literary  work  can  easily  be  proved.  It  is  fully 
recognized  in  Spedding,  Ellis,  and  Heath's  standard  edition 
of  Bacon's  Works,  published  in  1857.  Mr.  Ellis  discusses 
the  question  in  his  preface  to  the  Novum  Organiini.  He 
assumes  that  Bacon,  having  discovered  a  new  philosophical 
method,  determined,  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  to  "veil  it  in  an  abrupt  and  obscure  style," 
for  the  reason  that,  "like  a  concealed  treasure,  its  value 
would  be  decreased  if  others  were  allowed  to  share  in  it." 
No  serious  refutation  of  such  an  absurdity  can  be  needed. 
Mr.  Spedding  himself  repudiates  it,  declaring  it  to  be  "  irrec- 
oncilable both  with  the  objects  which  he  [Bacon]  had  in 
view,  and  with  the  spirit  in  which  he  appears  to  have  pur- 
sued them."  He  admits_the_  existence  of  what  he  calls  a 
"  great  secret^'  in  Bacon's  philosophy ;  but  he  also  admits, 
after  thirty  years  of  unremitting  study  of  the  subject,  his  own 
inability  to  solve  the  problem  in  a  manner  satisfactory  even 
to  himself.  "  It  is  a  question,"  he  allows  Mr.  Ellis,  his 
associate,  to  say  without  a  protest,  "to  which  every  fresh 
inquirer  gives  a  fresh  answer."  Indeed,  it  has  been  this 
very  mystery  under  every  kind  of  treatment  down  to  the 
present  time  that  has  led  editors  and  commentators  of 
Bacon's  philosophical  system  to  pronounce  the  system  itself 
a  failure.* 

The  truth  is,  Bacon  divided  his  scheme  into  two  parts, 
with  an  entirely  distinct,  peculiar,  and  original  method  for 
each.  For  the  first  part,  his  method  consists  in  making  an 
exhaustive  compilation  of  the  phenomena  of  nature,  and 
in  classifying  them  on  the  basis  of  the  fundamental  prop- 
erties   that    are    common    to    one    another.     He    sought    to 

*  "  Very  few  of  those  who  have  spoken  of  Bacon  have  understood  his  method." — Ellis, 
Spedding,  and  Heath's  edition  of  Bacon' s  Works,  i.  150  (Cambridge,  Mass.,  1S63). 

"  It  becomes  impossible  to  justify  or  understand  Bacon's  assertion  that  his  method  was  es- 
sentially new.'" — Ibid.,  i.  65. 

Mr.  Spedding's  personal  confession  of  ignorance  on  this  important  point  may  well  astonish 
us:  "Of  his  [Bacon's]  peculiar  system  of  philosophy  .  .  .  we  can  make  nothing.  We  regard  it 
as  a  curious  piece  of  machinery',  verj-  subtle,  elaborate,  and  ingenious,  but  not  worth  constructing  " 
(v.  419). 


accomplish  for  the  entire  universe  what  Linnaeus  subse- 
quently did  for  plants  and  Cuvier  for  animals  ;  that  is,  to 
arrange  observed  facts  into  allied  groups,  and  by  a  series 
of  exclusions  to  arrive  finally  at  a  knowledge  of  the  ele- 
mentary principles  that  underlie  all  things.  In  this  way  he 
thought  he  could  reduce  what  appears  to  be  endless  com- 
plexity into  an  alphabet,  and  thus  enable  mankind  by  new 
combinations  of  causes  to  acquire  that  absolute  control  over 
nature  which,  he  was  fond  of  asserting,  it  had  once  pos- 
sessed and  lost.  This  method,  however,  though  the  most 
ambitious  that  ever  entered  into  the  mind  of  man  to  con- 
ceive, was  no  secret.  It  is  emblazoned  on  every  page  of 
Bacon's  works. 

The  secret  is  in  the  other  branch  of  the  system, —  the 
branch  that  has  to  do  with  the  delivery  of  knowledge 
to  the  world.  It  is  somewhat  obscurely  referred  to  in  one 
of  the  paragraphs  of  the  De  Augnicntis,  as  follows  :  — 

There  is  another  method  of  Delivery,  similar  in  its  object  to  the  one 
already  described,  but  in  reality  almost  the  reverse.  Both  methods 
agree  in  aiming  to  separate  the  dull  among  the  auditors  from  the  select; 
but  they  vary  in  this, —  that  one  makes  use  of  a  way  of  delivery  more 
open,  the(3ther  a  way  of  delivery  more  secret.  Let  one  be  distinguished 
as  the  5:.\oteric  method,  the  other  (of  which  I  am  going  to  speak)  as  the 
"^  '•  \  =r  Acroamalic, —  a  distinction  observed  by  the  ancients  chiefly  in  the  pub- 
^tfA<«y  )  lication  of  books,  but  which  I  transfer  to  the  method  of  delivery  itself. 
The  ancients  used  it  with  judgment  and  discretion;  but  in  later  times 
it  has  been  disgraced  by  many  who  have  made  it  as  a  false  and  deceit- 
ful light,  in  which  to  put  forward  their  counterfeit  merchandise.  The 
intention,  however,  seems  to  be  by  obscurity  of  delivery  to  exclude  the 
vulgar  (that  is,  the  profane  vulgar)  from  the  secrets  of  knowledge,  and 
to  admit  those  persons  only  who  have  either  received  the  interpretation 
of  the  enigmas  through  the  hands  of  teachers  or  have  wits  of  such 
sharpness  and  discernment  that  they  can  of  themselves  pierce  the  veil.* 

The  fair  interpretation  to  be  given  to  the  above  is  this: 
Ancient  philosophers  were  accustomed  to  divide  their  doc- 
trines  into  two   classes,   namely  :    the  exoteric,  which  they 

*  For  the  original  Latin,  see  Appendix  B. 


G>lco  ; 


freely  published  to  the  world,  and  the  esoteric,  or  acroa- 
matic,  which  they  did  not  publish  at  all,  but  which  they 
reserved  in  private  for  their  disciples.  Bacon,  having  no 
disciples,  says  in  effect :  — 

I  intend  to  preserve  the  same  distinction  as  the  ancients  did,  but  I 
shall  apply  it  differently.  I  shall  publish  my  philosophy  by  two  differ- 
ent methods  simultaneously.— one  in  a  book  or  set  of  books  openly  for 
all,  and  another  in  a  book  or  set  of  books  _enigmaticallj_fprj_£gw,  or  (to 
use  his  own  words)  for  those  only  who  have  or  may  have  i^n  the  future 
"sufficient  sharpness  or  discernment  to  pierce  the  veil." 

In  corroboration  of  this  view,  we  quote,  in  the  first  place, 
a  passage  from  Bacon's  Temporis  Partus  Masculus,  in 
which  this  very  mode  of  delivering  knowledge  enigmatically 
is  treated  thus  :  — 

By  this  mode,  the  most  legitimate  of  all,  my  son,  I  may  perhaps  ex- 
tend the  now  deplorably  narrow  limits  of  man's  dominion  over  nature 
to  the  utmost  bounds.  "  But  what,"  you  will  ask,  "  is  this  legitimate 
mode  ?  "  I  hear  you  say  to  me,  "  Lay  aside  artifice  and  circumlocution, 
and  explain  your  design  just  as  it  is,  that  I  may  be  able  to  form  a  judg- 
ment on  it  for  myself."  I  would,  my  dearest  son,  that  matters  were  in 
such  a  state  with  you  as  to  render  this  possible.  Do  you  suppose  that 
when  the  entrances  to  the  minds  of  all  men  are  obstructed  with  the 
darkest  errors  —  and  those  deep-seated  and,  as  it  were,  burnt-in  — 
smooth,  even  spaces  can  be  found  in  those  minds,  so  that  the  light  of 
truth  can  b^  accurately  reflected  from  them  .■*  A  new  process  must  be 
instituted,  by  which  we  may  insinuate  ourselves  into  natures  so  disor- 
dered and  closed  up.  For,  as  the  delusions  of  the  insane  are  removed 
by  art  and  ingenuity,  but  aggravated  by  opposition  and  violence,  so 
jTiust  we  choose  methods  here  that  are  adapted  to  the  general  insanity. 
Indeed,  it  is  sufficient  if  my  method  of  deliverv  in  question  be  ingenu- 
ous, if  it  afford  no  occasion  for  error,  if  it  conciliate  belief,  if  it  repel  the 
injuries  of  time,  and  if  it  be  suited  to  proper  and  reasonable  readers. 
Whether  it  have  these  qualities  or  not,  I  appeal  to  the  future  to  show.* 

Here,  then,  is  Bacon's  own  description  in  general  terms 
of  one  of  the  two  methods,  the  secret  one,  adopted  by  him 
for  communicating  his  philosophy  to  the   public.      He  ex- 

*  For  the  original  Latin,  see  Appendix  C. 


pressly  declines  to  go  into  particulars  in  regard  to  it,  to  tell 
exactly  what  it  is,  to  what  kind  of  writing  it  will  be  applied, 
or  whether  or  not  he  will  put  his  name  to  it.  We  know 
that  by  means  of  it  he  expected  his  ideas  to  steal  into  men's 
minds  almost  imperceptibly,  certainly  without  opposition, 
and  that  the  full  effect  of  the  literature,  so  produced,  would 
be  felt,  not  at  the  time  in  which  he  wrote,  but  in  after  ages.* 
This  repugnance  to  anything  like  contention  in  the  work  of 
reform  was  perhaps  the  leading  trait  in  Bacon's  personal 
character.  He  often  referred,  with  great  enthusiasm,  to  the 
witty  saying  of  Pope  Alexander  about  Charles  VIII. 's  unre- 
sisted invasion  of  Italy, —  that  the  "conqueror  came  with 
chalk  in  his  hands  to  mark  up  lodging-places  for  his  soldiers, 
rather  than  arms  to  force  his  way  in."  If  we  would  under- 
stand Bacon,  we  must  constantly  bear  in  mind  that  this  was 
the  method  by  which  he  sought  to  conquer  the  intellectual 
world. t 

We  now  come  to  what  has  been  for  us,  and  we  think  it 
will  also  be  for  our  readers,  a  startling  revelation.  Among 
Bacon's  manuscript  papers  published  for  the  first  time  by 
Gruter  in  1653,  twenty-seven  years  after  Bacon's  death,  was 
one  entitled  Cogitata  et  Visa.  It  contains  a  rapid  sketch 
of  the  author's  philosophical  system,  as  then  in  process  of 
development,  and  particularly  (in  the  last  paragraph)  of  the 
secret  or  enigmatical  kind  of  writing  in  which  an  important 
part  of  that  system  was  to  be  embodied.'  'If  appears,  how- 
ever, that  in  this  latter  and  most  interesting  section  Gruter 
omitted    two    very  significant  passages.      No   notice  of    the 

*  "The  fruits  which  he  anticipated  from  his  philosophy  were  not  only  intended  for  the  benefit 
of  all  mankind,  but  were  to  be  gathered  in  another  generation." —  Speddiitg,  Ellis,  and  Heath' s 
edition  of  Bacon's  Works,  i.  i88. 

On  this  point  Bacon  himself  says,  "  It  may  truly  be  objected  to  me  that  my  philosopliv  will 
require  an  age,  a  whole  age,  to  commend  it,  and  very  many  ages  thoroiiglily  to  establish  it." —  /V 
A  ugtnentis. 

t  "  As  Alexander  liorgia  was  wont  to  say  of  the  expedition  of  the  French  to  Xaples,  '  that  they 
came  with  chalk  in  their  hands  to  mark  up  their  lodgings,  but  not  with  weapons  to  break  in,'  so 
I  like  better  that  entry  of  truth  which  comes  peaceably,  as  with  chalk  to  mark  up  these  minds 
which  are  capable  of  lodging  and  harboring  such  a  guest,  than  that  which  forces  its  way  with 
pugnacity  and  contention." —  /V  A  tismentis. 


omissions  is  given  in  his  book.  Indeed,  so  cleverly  was  the 
"work  of  mutilation  performed  that  for  a  period  of  two  hun- 
dred and  four  years  succeeding  no  suspicion  of  it  was  excited 
in  any  quarter,  though  in  the  interval  the  paper  was  trans- 
lated several  times  from  the  original  Latin  into  English  and 
French,  precisely  as  Gruter  had  printed  it.  Some  time 
before  1857,  however,  Mr.  Spedding  found  another  manu- 
script___copy  ofthe  Cogitata  in  the  library  of  the  Queen's 
College  at  Oxford  ;  and,  as  this  was  also  undoubtedly  gen- 
uine, having  been  corrected  here  and  there  by  Bacon  him- 
self^ he  wisely  concluded  to  follow  this  copy,  instead  of 
Gruter's  printed  form,  in  the  edition  he  was  then  preparing 
for  the  press.  It  was  when  these  two  publications  were 
compared  that  the  said  discrepancies,  now  for  the  first  time 
critically  examined,  became  known.  Evidently,  Mr.  Ellis 
had  no  knowledge  whatever  of  them,  and  Mr.  Spedding  no 
practical  appreciation  of  their  importance,  the  former  quot- 
ing freely  from  the  immediate  context  (undoubtedly  from 
Gruter's  copy,  before  the  Oxford  manuscript  was  discov- 
ered), and  the  latter  declaring  (apparently  on  the  most  cur- 
sory examination)  that  the  "differences  are  immaterial."  It 
is  hard  to  understand,  except  on  the  suppositions  which  we 
have  ventured  to  suggest  in  parentheses,  why  these  editors 
did  not  Jind  herein  an  additional  significance  in  Bacon's 
"secret,"  which,  even  in  their  blindness,  they  yet  describe 
as  a  "  new  sun  before  which  the  *  borrowed  beams  of  moon 
and  stars '  were  to  fade  away  and  disappear." 

We  now  offer  a  translation  of  the  entire  paragraph  as 
printed  by  Messrs.  Ellis,  Spedding,  and  Heath,  with  the 
omitted  passages  (never  before  translated  into  English)  in 
italics  :  — 

He  [Bacon]  thought,  also,  that  what  he  has  in  hand  is  not  mere  theory, 
but  a  practical  undertaking.  It  lays  the  foundations,  not  of  any  sect  or 
dogma,  but  of  a  great  and  far-reaching  benefit  to  mankind.  Therefore, 
attention  must  be  given,  not  only  to  the  perfection  of  the  matter,  but 
also  (and    this    is   of  equal  importance)  to  the  communication  of  it  to 


lO 

others.  But  he  has  observed  that  men  minister  to  their  love  of  fame  and 
pomp  sometimes  by  publishing  and  sometimes  by  concealing  the  knowl- 
edge of  things  which  they  think  they  have  acquired,  particularly  those 
who  offer  unsound  doctrines,  which  they  do  in  a  scanty  light,  that  they 
may  more  easily  satisfy  their  vanity.  He  thought,  however,  that,  while 
his  subject  is  one  that  ought  not  to  be  tainted  with  personal  ambition 
or  desire  of  glory,  still  (unless  he  were  a  mere  tyro,  not  knowing  the 
ways  of  the  world  and  without  foresight)  he  must  remember  that 
inveterate  errors,  like  the  ravings  of  lunatics,  are  overcome  by  ingenuity 
and  tact,  but  aggravated  by  violence  and  opposition.  We  must  there- 
fore use  prudence,  and  humor  people  (as  far  as  we  can  with  simplicity 
and  candor),  in  order  that  contradictions  may  be  extinguished  before 
they  become  inflamed.  To  this  end  he  is  preparing  a  work  on  Nature 
and  on  the  Interpretation  of  Nature,  to  abolish  errors  with  the  least 
asperity,  and  to  affect  the  minds  of  men  without  disturbing  them.  And 
this  he  can  do  the  more  easily  because  he  will  not  offer  himself  as  a 
leader,  but  will  so  spread  abroad  the  light  of  nature  that  no  leader  will 
be  needed.  But,  as  time  meanwhile  glides  away,  and  he  has  been  en- 
gaged in  civil  affairs  more  than  he  wished,  it  seemed  to  be  a  long  work, 
—  especially,  considering  the  uncertainty  of  life  and  his  own  impatient 
desire  to  make  something  secure.  Therefore,  it  has  appeared  to  him 
that  a  simpler  method  might  be  adopted,  which,  though  not  set  forth  to 
the  multitude,  might  yet  j)revent  so  important  a  matter  from  being  pre- 
maturely lost.  So  he  thought  best,  after  long  considering  the  subject 
aiid  weighing  it  carefully,  first  of  all  to  prepare  Tabulae  Invenieiidi,  or 
regular  forms  of  inquiry ;  in  other  words,  a  mass  of  particulars  arranged 
for  the  understanding,  and  to  serve,  as  it  were,  for  an  e.xample  and 
almost  visible  representation  of  the  matter.  For  nothing  else  can  be 
devised  that  would  place  in  a  clearer  light  what  is  true  and  what  is  false, 
or  show  more  plainly  that  what  is  presented  is  more  than  words,  and 
must  be  avoided  by  any  one  who  either  has  no  confidence  in  his  own 
scheme  or  may  wish  to  have  bis  scheme  taken  for  more  than  it  is  worth. 
Bui  when  tJtese  Tabtilae  iHvetiiendi  have  been  put  fortli  and  seen,  he 
does  not  doubt  that  the  more  timid  wits  will  shrink  almost  itt  despair 
fro?n  imitating  them  with  similar  productions  with  other  materials  or  on 
other  subjects ;  and  they  will  take  so  much  delight  in  the  specimen  gii'en 
that  they  will  miss  the  precepts  in  it.  Still,  many  persons  will  be  led 
.1  to  inyuire  into  the  real  meanittg  and  highest  use  of  these  writings,  and 
iji  to  find  the  key  to  their  interpretation,  and  thus  more  ardently  desire, 
in  some  degree  at  least,  to  acquire  the  new  aspect  of  nature  7uhich  such 
a  key  will  reveal.  But  he  intends,  yielding  neither  to  his  own  personal 
aspirations  nor  to  the  wishes  of  others,  but  keeping  steadily  in  view  the 
success  of  his  undertaking,  having  shared  these  writings  with  some,  to 


1 1 

withhold  the  rest,  until  the  treatise  intended  for  the  people  shall  be 
"^published. 

Nevertheless,  he  anticipates  that  some  persons  of  higher  and  more 
exalted  genius,  taking  a  hint  f roni_wlia^ they'observe,  will  without  more 
aTd^apprehend  and  master  the  others  of  themselves.  Foi  he  is  almost 
of  the  opinion  (as  some  one  has  said)  that  this  will  be  enough  for  the 
wise,  while  more  will  not  be  enough  for  the  dull.  He  will  therefore  in- 
termit no  part  of  his  undertaking.  At  the  same  time  he  saw  that,  so  far 
as  these  writings  are  concerned,  to  begin  his  teaching  directly  with  them 
would  be  too  abrupt.  Something  suitable  ought  to  be  said  by  way  of 
preface,  and  this  in  the  foregoing  he  thinks  he  has  now  done. 

Besides,  he  does  not  wish  to  conceal  this  or  to  impose  any  rigid  fonns 
of  inquiry  upon  men  {after  the  manner  now  in  I'ogue  in  the  arts) ;  but 
he  is  assured  that,  when  these  productions  have  all  been  tested  after 
long  use  and  (as  he  thinks)  with  sonie  jjidgment,  this  form  of  iivvestiga- 
Jjon,  thus  proved  and  e.vhibited  by  him,  will  be  found  the  truest  cind  most 
.jisefiil.  Still,  he  would  not  hinder  those  who  liave  more  leisure  than  he 
has  or  who  are  free  from  tjie  special  difficulties  which  ahuays  beset  the 
%■  piojieer  or  who  are  of  a  more  powerful  a}id  sublime  genius  from  improv- 
ing on  it;  for  he  finds  in  his  own  experience  that  the  art  of  inventing 
grows  by  invention  itself. 

Finally,  it  has  seemed  to  him  that,  if  any  good  be  found  in  what  has 
been  or  shall  be  set  forth,  it  should  be  dedicated  as  the  fat  of  the  sacri- 
fice to  God,  and  to  men  in  God's  likeness  who  procure  the  welfare  of 
mankind  by  benevolence  and  true  affection.* 

In  this  description,  written  by  Bacon  (evidently  under  some 
kind  of  restraint)  in  or  about  1608,  of  his  acroamatic  or  enig- 
matical writings,  we  note  the  following  salient  points:  — 

1.  They  are  styled  Tabulae  Invenicndi. 

2.  They  are  said  to  constitute  an  "almost  v^isible  "  repre- 
sentation of  that  part  of  the  philosophical  system  to  which 
they  pertain. 

3.  They  are  designed  to  show  in  some  subjects  the  clearest 
possible  distinctions  between  what  is  true  and  what  is  false. 

4.  They  cannot  be  imitated  by  the  timorous,  especially  for 
the  reason  that  such  persons  will  take  so  great  delight  in 
each  specimen  given  that  they  will  miss  the  precepts  in  it. 

5.  But  readers  of  a  more  alert  genius,  or  [if  we  rightly  un- 

*  For  the  original  Latin,  see  Appendix  D. 


12 

derstand  the  phrase  "visible"  used  in  this  connection]  spec- 
tators, will  suspect  the  existence  of  some  hidden  meanings  in 
these  writings,  and  thus  be  led  to  inquire  what  those  mean- 
ings are  and  for  what  high  and  noble  purpose  designed. 
This  is  called  the  Key  to  their  Interpretation. 

6.  The  author  will  be  under  some  kind  of  temptation  to  se- 
cure immediate  personal  fame  or  glory  in  connection  with 
them,  and  subject  also  to  importunities  of  friends  for  the 
same  purpose. 

7.  These  temptations  and  importunities,  however,  will  be 
resisted,  and  the  secret,  whatever  it  may  be,  preserved  for 
future  times. 

8.  Some  of  these  writings  were  to  be  withheld  from  the 
public  until  the  corresponding  treatise,  intended  to  a  certain 
extent  to  be  open  and  explicit,  should  be  published. 

9.  They  are  the  most  useful  forms  of  inquiry  that  can  be    i 
employed  in  the  ascertainment  of  truth. 

10.  Isaac  Gruter,  the  last-known  custodian  of  Bacon's  post- 
humous papers,  and  the  possessor  of  some  important  secret 
which  they  had  revealed  to  him,  and  which  he  had  been  for- 
bidden to  communicate  to  the  public,  carefully  excluded  from 
his  printed  copy  of  the  Cogitata  et  Visa  the  passages  contain- 
ing the  fourth,  fifth,  sixth,  seventh,  eighth,  and  ninth  state- 
ments herein  summarized.  The  omissions  were  not  supplied 
until  1857,  and  then  only  in  Latin. 

Let  us  review  these  several  points  in  order  :  — 

I.    The  writings  are  styled  Tabtilae  Inveniendi. 

Bacon  divided  his  great  work  on  Philosophy,  the  Instauratio 
Magna,  into  six  parts,  the  first  four  of  which  may  be  de- 
scribed as  follows  :  — 

Part  first  gives  a  survey  or  inventory  of  the  stock  of  knowl- 
edge then  existing  in  the  world,  with  a  statement  of  the  de- 
ficiencies found  in  it.  To  this  part  belongs  the  "Advancement 
of  Learning,"  particularly  the  second  edition  under  the  title 
of  De  Aiiznientis  Scientiaruni. 

Part  second  treats  of  the  human  understanding,  and  the 


13 

rules  and  principles  by  which  it  ought  to  be  guided  in  its 
researches  after  truth.  Under  this  head  is  placed  the  Xovuin 
Organmn. 

Part  third  brings  together,  or  seeks  to  bring  together,  out 
of  every  department  of  nature  but  one,  the  widest  possible 
collection  of  facts,  "arranged  for  the  work  of  the  understand- 
ing," and  so  classified  as  to  yield  to  mankind,  in  Bacon's  ex- 
pectation, not  only  a  better  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  the 
universe,  but  also  a  larger  practical  control  over  them.  The 
writings  in  this  division  are  the  Sylva  Sylrantin,  "  History  of 
the  Winds,"  "  History  of  Dense  and  Rare,"  "  History  of  Life 
and  Death,"  and  some  others.  The  author's  investigations 
into  the  nature  of  heat  and  motion,  though  produced  also 
by  way  of  examples  in  the  Novum  Organnni,  come 
properly  into  the  system  here.  These  compositions  are 
called  Tabulae  Invcnicndi,  or  "Tables  of  Discovery,"  be- 
cause they  are  inquisitions  into  facts  and  because  they 
have  a  certain  regularity  of  form.  The  Syha  Sylvaruni, 
for  instance,  is  separated  into  ten  centuries  (chapters),  so 
called  because  each  century  is  itself  separated  into  one 
hundred  distinct  paragraphs.  The  author's  investigations 
into  the  nature  of  heat,  sound,  and  motion,  are  treated  in 
a  similar  manner.  The  books  of  the  Bible,  being  in  chapter 
and  verse  numerically  arranged,  are  tabulae,  and  so  are 
dramas  Tn  acts  and  scenes. 

Part  fourth  was  also  designed,  like  the  third,  for  an  in- 
quisition into  facts,  but,  as  we  shall  show,  into  facts  of  a 
mental  and  moral  nature  exclusively.  Strange  as  it  may 
seem,  however,  not  a  single  line,  except  a  brief  preface  en- 
titled Scala  Intellectus,  can  be  found  in  Bacon's  acknowl- 
edged works  that  belongs  under  this  head.*  And  yet  we 
know,  from  several  references  to  it  made  by  Bacon  else- 
where, that  he  considered  it  a  necessary  and  integral  part 
of  his  philosophical  system.  For  instance,  he  says  in  the 
Novum  Orgauum :  — 

*  "  Of  the  fourth  part  not  a  fragment  has  come  down  to  us." —  Spedding^,  v.  174. 


14 

It  may  also  be  asked  whether  I  speak  of  natural  philosophy  only, 
or  whether  I  mean  that  the  other  sciences,  logic,  ethics,  and  politics, 
should  be  carried  on  by  this  method.  Now  I  certainly  mean  what  I 
have  said  to  be  understood  of  them  all.  .  .  .   For  I  form  a  history  and  ' 

f  Tabulae  Invenieiidi  for  anger,  fear,  shame,  and   the  like,  for    matters 
political,  and  again  for  the" operation  of  memory  and   judgment,    not 
less  than  for  heat  or  cold  or  light  or  vegetation. 
\ 

In  the  Fihtin  Labyrinthi  he  is  even  more  specific  in  his 
description  of  these  moral  and  political  Talnilae  Inveniciidi ; 
for  he  there  gives  a  list  of  thirteen  classes  of  them,  four  of 
which  are  entitled  as  follows  :  "  tabulae  concerning  animal 
passions  ;  tabulae  concerning  sense  and  the  objects  of  sense  ; 
tabulae  concerning  the  affections  of  the  mind  ;  and  tabulae 
concerning  the  mind  itself  and  its  faculties." 

Where,  now,  are  these  writings  that  deal  with  the  passions 
and  affections  of  the  human  heart,  "  with  anger,  fear,  shame, 
and  the  like,"  arranged  in  divisions,  more  or  less  regular  in 
form,  and  numbered }  They  are  missing ;  but  that  they 
were  actually  composed,  and  that  they  formed,  or  were 
designed  to  form,  the  fourth  part  of  the  fusiauratio  Magua, 
itself  also  missing,  we  have  every  reason  to  believe  from 
what  Bacon  himself  says  of  the  fourth  part :  — 

Of  these  the  tirst  is  to  set  forth  examples  of  inquiry  and  invention 
\_tabulae  inveniendi'\  according  to  my  method,  exhibited  by  anticipation 
in  some  particular  subjects ;  choosing  such  subjects  as  are  at  once  the 
most  noble  in  themselves  among  those  under  inquiry,  and  most  different 
one  from  another,  that  there  may  be  an  example  of  every  kind.  I  do  not 
speak  of  those  examples  which  are  joined  to  the  several  precepts  and 
rules  by  way  of  illustration  (for  of  these  I  have  given  plenty  in  the 
second  part  of  the  work);  but  I  mean  actual  types  and  models,  by  which 
the  entire  process  of  the  mind  and  the  whole  fabric  and  order  of  inven- 
tion from  beginning  to  end,  in  certain  subjects,  and  those  various 
a7id  remarkable,  should  be  set,  as  it  were,  before  the  eyes.  For  I  remem- 
ber that  in  mathematics  it  is  easy  to  follow  the  demonstration  when 
yo2t  have  a  diagram  before  you  :  whereas,  without  that  help,  all  appears 
involved  and  more  subtle  than  it  really  is.  To  devices  of  this  kind  — 
being,  in  fact,  nothing  more  than  an  application  of  the  second  part  in 
detail  and  at  large  — the  fourth  part  of  the  work  is  davoted.—  Distributio 
Operis  {Spedding,  Ellis,  and  Heath,  viii.  51).     (Italics  our  own.) 


15 

It  is  practically  certain,  therefore,  that  Bacon  left  behind 
him  writings  on  moral  and  political  subjects  which  for  some 
reason  were  not  openly  acknowledged,  which  were  arranged 
in  regular  or  numbered  divisions,  which  were  devoted  to 
the  interpretation  of  human  nature,  and  which,  under 
the  title  of  Tabulae  Invenicndi,  belonged  to  the  fourth  part 
(now  generally  considered  either  unwritten  or  lost)  of  his 
great  philosophical  work.  That  these  were  not  the  tabulae 
on  heat  and  motion  he  expressly  states  in  the  passage  we 
have  quoted  from  the  Distribiitio  Opcris.  These  latter 
belonged  to  the  third  part,  that  is,  to  the  interpretation  of 
physical  nature. 

2.  They  are  said  to  constitute  an  "  almost  visible  "  repre- 
soitation  of  that  part  of  the  philosophical  system  to  ivhicJi  they 
pertain. 

This  is  in  exact  accordance  with  Bacon's  description  of 
the  drama  as  "  visible  history," — "  Draniatica  est  vclnti  his- 
toria  spectabilis''  {De  Augnientis) 

In  another  tract  Bacon  describes  these  writings  as  tanqnam 
vivas,  a  phrase  which  Mr.  Spedding  translates,  "as  it  were, 
animate,"  and  Mr.  Montagu,  by  the  word  "living." 

3.  They  are  designed  to  shoxv  in  some  stibjects  the  clearest 
possible  distinctions  betzvcen  what  is  true  and  zvJiat  is  false. 

In  the  last  analysis,  experience  is  our  sole  guide  in  the 
conduct  of  life.  Whatever  in  the  long-run  makes  for  happi- 
ness is  right.  Whatever  in  the  long-run  makes  for  misery 
is  wrong.  In  most  affairs,  however,  we  can  judge  results 
only  after  several  generations  of  men,  one  after  another, 
have  worked  them  out.  Hence,  for  our  criterion  in  many 
given  cases  we  must  go  to  history.  But  history  can  be 
abridged  and  made  to  teach  in  a  few  hours  artificially,  on  the 
mimic  stage,  what  in  actual  life  may  require,  in  the  language 
of  Bacon,  "ambages  of  time."  It  is  perhaps  this  special  test 
of  truth  to  which  the  writings  of  Bacon,  now  under  consider- 
ation, must  be  referred. 

Bacon  himself  (as  above)  compares  this  mode  of  investi- 


//^-^i^-fh^h-Tt^ 


i6 

gating  truth  with  the  use  of  diagrams  in  mathematics.  What 
better  illustration  could  there  be  of  the  certainty  with  which 
the  course  of  envy,  for  example,  is  traced  out,  "  before  our 
eyes"  and  "from  beginning  to  end,"  in  "Julius  Caesar,"  *  or 
that  of  jealousy  in  "  Othello"  ? 

4.  r/ity  CiViHot  bt-  imitated  by  the  timorous,  especially  for  the 
reason  that  such  persons  will  take  so  i^reat  delight  in  each 
specimen  given  that  they  zvill  miss  the  precepts  in  it. 

This  remarkable  prognostication,  so  exactly  fulfilled,  of  the 
fate  of  the  philosophy  in  the  writings  referred  to,  was  made 
by  Bacon  in  1608,  but  not  printed  in  any  form  (as  before 
shown)  until  1857.  And  yet  Miss  Delia  Bacon,  demanding 
to  know  in  1856  what  had  become  of  these  same  writings, 
and  having  no  access,  it  is  believed,  to  the  manuscript  of  the 
Cogitata  ct  Visa,  inquired,  "Did  he  [Bacon]  make  so  deep  a 
summer  in  his  verse  that  the  track  of  the  precept  was  lost 
in  it  ?  "  t 

5.  />///  readers,  or  spectators,  of  a  more  alert  genius  will 
snspect  the  existence  of  some_  hidden  meanings  in  these  torit- 
ings,  and  thns  be  led  to  inqnire  what  those  meanings  are  and 

for  what  high  and  noble  purpose  designed.  This  is  called 
the  Key  to  their  Interpretation. 

Notwithstanding  Bacon's  own  confession  that  a  part  of  his 
philosophical  system  was  enigmatic,  no  one  has  yet  discov- 
ered in  his  acknowledged  works  any  hidden  meanings  what- 
ever. :^'~— 

6.  The  author  zvill  be  under  some  hind  of  temptation  to  se- 
cure immediate  personal  fame  or  glory  in  connection  loith 
them,  and  subject  also  to  importunities  of  friends  for  the  same 
purpose. 

This  cannot   apply  to  any  of   Bacon's  known   works  ;   tor 

*Oii  this  subject  see  T.  S.  K.  Dixon's  aitiiiirable  work.  eiUitleil  "  Kr.iin.is  li.Koii  and  his 
Shakespeare,"  pp.  155-303,  Chicago,  Sargent  Publishing  Company,  iS*)5. 

For  a  very  able  and  scholarly  exposition  of  the  theory  underlying  this  treatise,  see  also 
Henry  J.  Kuggles's  "  The  I'lays  of  Shakespeare,  Founded  on  Literary  Forms,"  Boston,  Hough- 
ton, Mirtlin  ^  Co  ,  iSi)5.  Mr.  Kuggles  is  a  retired  lawyer  of  New  Vork,  of  .ndv.\nccd  age,  and  a 
profound  student  of  the  philosophy  in  .Shakespeare. 

t  This  remarkable  case  of  divination  was  pointed  out  to   us  by  Augustus   Hcuienway,  Fsc|. 


17 

Bacon  took  great  i^ains  to  secure  for  them  the  widest  pub- 
licity in  his  own  time,  dedicating  them  successively  to  mem- 
bers of  the  royal  family,  presenting  them  to  influential 
friends,  and  depositing  copies,  as  soon  as  printed,  in  public 
libraries. 

7.  These  temptations  and  importunities ,  however,  will  he 
resisted;  and  the  secret,  whatever  it  may  he,  preserved  for 
future  times. 

The  reason  for  this  secrecy  is  stated  in  the  plainest  pos- 
sible manner.  It  was  because  Bacon  sought  entrance  into 
men's  minds,  as  Charles  VIII.  did  into  Italy,  ^vithout  oppo- 
sition, and  therefore,  it  may  be  inferred,  wished  to  avoid 
any  unnecessary  prejudice  that  might  have  arisen  from  the 
form  of  the  writings  best  adapted  for  his  purpose.  "  I 
shall  adhere,"  he  says  in  substance,  "to  my  preconceived 
plan,  whatever  its  effect  on  my  personal  fortunes  may  be." 
Of  course,  if  the  form  of  the  writings  were  in  any  manner 
deemed  objectionable  at  that  time,  this  fact  would  naturally 
have  strengthened  the  motives,  if  it  did  not  indeed  originate 
them,  operating  against  premature  disclosure. 

It  should  furthermore  be  noted  that  Bacon  admonishes 
every  one  doing  this  work  to  do  it  as  he  did,  "  not  only  with- 
out hope  of  private  emolument,"  *  but  also  "  under  a  mask."  t 
We  have  his  repeated  assurances  that  he  expected  others  to 
carry  it~bn,  perhaps  even  to  greater  perfection,  in  due  time 
after  his  death.  "  My  own  experience  teaches  me,"  he  said, 
"  that  the  art  of  inventing  grows  by  invention  itself." 

*  "  I  am  not  hunting  for  fame  nor  establishing  a  sect.  Indeed,  to  receive  any  private  emolu- 
ment from  so  great  an  undertaking  I  hold  to  be  both  ridiculous  and  base." —  Spedding,  Edit,  and 
Heath,  vi.  450. 

t  "  Privata  negotia  personatus  administret." — De  Morilms  Interpretu,  Ibid.,  \\\.  367, 
We  are  not  surprised  to  nnd  Mr.  Spedding  commenting  on  the  above  (in  a  foot-note;  as  fol- 
lows :  "  I  cannot  say  that  I  clearly  understand  the  sentence."     Mr.  Spedding  did  not  see  fit,  how- 
ever, in  the  fourteen  large  volumes  of  his  edition  of  Bacon's  Life,  Letters,  and  Works,  to  trans- 
late the  above  passage  into  English. 

The  plain  meaning  is  that  the  personal  identity  of  the  interpreter  should  be  concealed,  or 
(more  literally;  the  int^ifpreter  should  not  be  known  as  such  in  his  daily  life.  He  should  bear 
an  assumed  name.  This  may  remind  our  readers  of  Sir  Toby  Mattliew's  famous  postscript,  ap- 
pended to  a  lener  written  to  Bacon  at  or  about  the  time  the  first  .Shakespeare  folio  was  in  press; 
namely,  that  his  lordship  was  the  most  prodigious  wit  in  all  the  world,  though  known  by  th« 
name  of  another. 


i8 

8.  Some  of  these  zvritings  were  to  be  withheld  from  the 
public  until  the  corresponding  treatise,  intended  to  a  certain 
extent  to  be  open  and  explicit,  should  be  brought  out. 

The  Novum  Orgajtum  was  published  in  1620.  It  was  be- 
gun, Dr.  Rawley  says,  at  least  twelve  years  before  that  date  ; 
that  is,  on  or  before  1608,  at  which  time,  also,  the  Cogitata 
et  Visa  was  written.  It  appears,  then,  that  in  1608  some  of 
the  enigmatical  writings  belonging  to  the  fourth  part  of 
Bacon's  philosophical  system  had  already  been  published, 
but  that  the  remainder  were  to  be  withheld  until  some  work 
of  a  different  kind,  but  connected  with  them,  had  also  first 
been  published.  This  work  must  have  been  the  Novum 
Orga)ium,  for  Bacon  himself  says  (in  a  paragraph  above 
quoted)  that  the  writings  of' the  fourth  part  of  his  philosoph- 
ical system  are  "nothing  more  than  an  application  of  the 
second  part  [that  is,  of  the  Novum  Orqan?iui\  in  detail  and 
at  large."  The  publication  of  the  reserved  writings  was  to 
be  made,  therefore,  after  1620.  The  plays  included  in  the 
first  Shakespeare  folio  number  thirty-six,  of  v/hich  twenty- 
five  were  in  existence  previously  to  1608.  Of  these  latter, 
however,  sixteen  only  had  been  printed  on  or  before  that 
date :  the  others  were  "  withheld,"  for  reasons  hitherto 
absolutely  unknown  and  not  even  conjectured,  until  162;^, 
when  they  appeared  for  the  first  time  in  print.* 

Moreover,  Bacon  distinctly  asserts,  in  the  paragraph  al- 
ready quoted  from  the  Distributio  Operis,  that  he  should 
set  forth  his  method  by  some  examples  "  in  anticipation  " 
(that  is,  in  advance  of  the  publication  of  the  Novum  Or- 
ganum)  ;  that  for  these  examples  he  should  "  choose  such 
subjects  as  are  at  once  the  most  noble  in  themselves"  and 
such,  also,  as  would  enable  him  to  produce  "actual  types 
and    models "  of  human  life.     He   further    asserts   that    he 

*"  Troihis  and  Cressida"  appears  at  first  sight  to  be  an  exreption  to  this  statement,  for  it 
was  printed  in  i6og.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  a  confirmation,  the  pubHslier  stating  in  the  preface 
that  it  had  "  escaped  from  grand  possessors."  It  was  printed  against  the  author's  will.  Mr. 
Charles  Knight  says  that  this  same  restraining  influence  of  some  person  or  persons  of  high  rank 
succeeded  in  keeping  every  other  new  Shakespearean  i>la^  oiij^of  type. between  ii[)oS  and  j620y 
but  he  does  not  attempt  to  account  for  it.     "  Othello''  appeared  in  quarto  in  1622. 


19 

should  by  no  means  fail  to  produce  these  "types  and 
models,"  *  and  that,  when  produced,  they  would  belong  to 
the  fourth  part  of  his  philosophical  system.  Where  are 
they  ?  When  were  they  published  ?  Is  a  line  of  them,  in 
prose,  known  to  exist  ? 

9.  TJiey  are  the  most  useful  forms  of  inquiry  that  can  be 
employed  in  the  ascertainment  of  truth. 

The  most  potent  source  of  influence  in  the  world,  either 
for  good  or  ill,  is  example.  This  comes  to  us  generally,  of 
course,  in  actual  life,  but  oftentimes  with  far  more  force  and 
impressiveness  on  the  stage  of  a  theatre.  Bacon  especially 
commends  play-acting  as  a  "means  of  educating  men  to 
virtue,"  and  notices  the  fact  that  "  minds  are  more  open  to 
impressions  when  people  are  gathered  together  than  when 
they  are  alone."  This  he  pronounces  "one  of  the  great  se- 
crets of  nature." 

10.  Isaac  Gruter,  the  last-knoivn  custodian  of  Bacon's  post-  \ 
humous  papers,  and  the  possessor  of  some  important  secret 
which  they  had  revealed  to  him,  and  i^'hich  he  had  been  for- 
bidden to  communicate  to  the  public,  carefully  excluded  from 
his  printed  copy  of  the  Cogitata  et  l^isa  the  passages  containing 
the  fourth,  fifth,  sixth,  seventh,  eighth,  and  ninth  statements 
herein  summarised.  The  omissions  were  not  supplied  till  1857, 
and  then  only  in  Latin. 

Whatpnow,  was  the  nature  of  these  writings .'  Mr.  Sped- 
ding  says  that  at  one  period  "  Bacon  thoughtof_throwing  the 
exposition  of  his  argument  into  a  djginatic  form."  f  Can 
"  there  be  any  doubt  that  he  actualFy  did  this  .'  If  so,  one 
additional  circumstance,  now  for  the  first  time  adverted  to, 
in  Gruter's  mysterious  work,  will,  we  are  confident,  set  it 
definitely  and  forever  at  rest. 

In  1645  Gruter  published  at  Leyden  an  edition  of  Bacon's 
De  Augmentis,  and  inserted  in  it,  in  accordance  with  a  cus- 

*  "  He  will  therefore  intermit  no  part  of  his  undertaking,"  — one  of  the  passages  omitted  by 
Gruter  in  his  printed  copy  of  the  Cogitata  et  Visa. 

t  Works  of  Bacon,  \\\..  363. 


20 

torn  of  the  time,  a  pictorialallegoryas  a  frontispiece.  We 
reproduce  this  picture  as  our  own  frontispiece,  also.  In  it 
Bacon  appears  seated  at  a  table  with  a  large  open  volume 
before  him.  He  is  pointing  to  this  volume  with  the  index 
finger  of  his  right  hand.  With  his  left  arm  extended  he  is 
restraining  a  female  figure  intent  upon  carrying  a  clasped 
book  to  a  temple,  evidently  the  Temple  of  Fame,  on  a  dis- 
tant height.  This  figure  is  clad  in  a  beast's  skin,  and  is 
therefore,  we  think,  the  Muse  of  Tragedy,  the  word  tragedy 
being  derived  from  the  two  Greek  words  rpayos  and  ^h-q, 
meaning  goat  and  song  (literally,  goat-song).  In  ancient 
Greece  the  goat  was  sacred  to  the  drama.  At  every  per- 
formance in  the  theatre,  actors  and  even  members  of  the 
chorus  wore  goat-skins. 

May  we  not  interpret  this  allegory  as  follows  .'  Bacon  is 
here  represented  as  the  author  of  two  works  :  one,  open  and 
acknowledged  ;  the  other,  enigmatical,  dramatic,  and  unac- 
knowledged. The  restraint  exercised  upon  Gruter  in  his 
desire  to  publish  some  literary  secret  about  Bacon  is  sug- 
gested by  the  struggling  figure  we  see  with  a  book,  and  the 
nature  of  the  secret  itself,  not  only  by  the  identity  of  Bacon's 
companion  in  the  picture,  dressed  in  a  goat's  skin,  but  also 
by  the  evident  relationship  existing  between  the  two  books, 
—  respectively  body  and  soul  of  the  Baconian  philosophy. 


APPENDIX  A. 

LECTORI    S.    ISAACUS    CKUTERUS. 

Quae  tibi  damns  Amice  Lector,  ad  Universalem  et  Naturalem  Philoso- 
phiam  spectantia,  ex  Mauuscriptis  Codicibus,  quos  accurate  recensuerat 
et  varie  emendarat  author,  me  amanuense  apographa  sunt.  Sola  Bodlei 
epistola,  quae  ad  examen  vocat  '  Cogitata  et  Visa,'  per  me  ex  Anglico 
facta  Latina  est,  atque  ex  opere  epistolarum  Baconi,  qus  tali  idiomate 
circumferuntur,  hue  translata  ob  materia^  cognationem.  Titulus  quern 
frons  libri  pnvtert  et  totum  complectitur  opusculi  in  varias  dissertationes 
secti  argumentum,  ab  ipso  Verulamio  est;  quem  singula?  exhibent 
paging  ex  rerum  tractatarum  serie  distinctum,  a  me,  ut  minus  confund- 
eret  quasrentem  Lectorem  indiculi  defectus.  Quicquid  sequitur,  ab  eo 
loco  cujus  inscriptio  est  in  ipso  contextu  '  Indicia  vera  de  interpretatione 
naturae'  usque  ad  tinem,  donavi  eo  nomine  '  Impetus  Philosophici,'  quod 
ex  familiaribus  Viri  magni  colloquiis  notassem,  cum  de  istis  chartis 
mecum  ageret.  Non  aliter  enim  appellare  solebat  quicquid  prioribus 
per  titulos  suos  separatis  connecteretur ;  ne  quis  imperfectum  statim 
suspicetur  quod  defervescente  Impetu  non  videt  trahere  syrma  prolix* 
tractationis.  Omnia  autem  Ikbc  inedita  {nisi  quod  in  editis  paucissimis 
vara  exstoit  q uarundain  ex  his  mcditationwn  vestigia)  debes.  Amice 
Lector,  Nobilissimo  Guil.  Boswello,  aa  qjiem  ex  ipsiiis  Baconi  legato 
pervenerant,  cum  aliis  in  politico  et  morali  genere  elaboratis,  qiicc  nunc 
ex  dono  ror  imKdpiTnv  penes  me  servantur  non  diu  prcinenda.  Boswello 
inquam,  viro  nobilitate,  prudentia  insigni,  varia  eruditione,  humanitate 
summa,  et-€)ratori  olim  apud  Batavos  Anglo;  cujus  sancta  mihi  memoria 
est.  Vale  et  conatibus  nostris  fave,  qui  mox  plura  daturi  sumus  Baconi- 
ana  latine  versa,  maximam  partem  inedita;  et  av'k'ku^ijv  adornamus  episto- 
larum quas  vir  eminentissimus  Hugo  Grotius  scripsit  ad  Belgas, 
Germanos,  Italos,  Suecos,  Danos,  Gallis  exjeptis,  quas  Clarissimus 
Sarravius  Senator  Parisiensis  edidit.  Rogantur  itaque  in  quorum 
manus  hajc  inciderint,  ut,  si  quid  ejus  notae  habent,  aut  sciunt  unde 
haberi  queat,  ad  typographum  transmittant,  et  significent,  caeteris  jam 
coUectis  aggregandum. 

APPENDIX  B. 

Sequitur  aliud  Methodi  discrinien,  priori  intentione  affine,  re  ipsa  fere 
contrarium.  Hoc  enim  habet  utraque  Methodus  commune,  ut  vulgus 
auditorum  a   selectis   separet;    illud   oppositum,   quod   prior    introducit 


22 

moduni  tradendi  solito  apertiorem  ;  altera,  de  qua  jam  dicemus,  occulti- 
orem.  Sit  igitur  discrimen  tale,  ut  altera  Methodus  sit  Exoterica 
altera  Acroamatica.  Etenim  quam  antiqui  adhibuerunt  prascipue  in 
edendis  libris  differentiam,  earn  nos  transferemus  ad  ipsum  modum  tra- 
dendi. Ouinetiam  Acroamatica  ipsa  apud  veteres  in  usu  fuit,  atque 
prudenter  et  cum  judicio  adhibita.  At  Acroamaticum  sive  ^nigmati- 
cum  istud  dicendi  genus  posterioribus  temporibus  dehonestatum  est  a 
plurimis,  qui  eo  tanquam  lumine  ambiguo  et  fallaci  abusi  sunt  ad  merces 
suas  adulterinas  extrudendas.  Intentio  autem  ejus  ea  esse  videtur,  ut 
traditionis  involucris  vulgus  (profanum  scilicet)  a  secretis  scientiarum 
summoveatur ;  atque  illi  tantum  admittaiitur,  qui  aut  per  manus  magis- 
trorum  parabolarum  interpretationem  nacti  sunt,  aut  proprio  ingenii 
acumine  et  subtilitate  intra  velum  penetrare  possint. —  De  Augmentis 
Scieniiarum,  Liber  VI. 


APPENDIX  C. 

Ita  sim  (fili)  itaque  humani  in  universum  imperii  angustias  nunquam 
satis  deploratas  ad  datos  tines  proferam  (quod  niihi  ex  humanis  solum  in 
votis  est),  ut  tibi  optima  tide,  atque  ex  altissima  mentis  me^t  providen- 
tia,  et  exploratissimo  rerum  et  animorum  statu,  liiec  traditurus  sim  [sum] 
mode  omnium  maxime  legitimo.  "  (2uis  tandem  (inquies)  est  modus 
ille  legitimus.'  Quin  tu  mitte  artes  et  ambages,  rem  exhibe  nudam 
nobis,  ut  judicio  nostro  uti  possimus."  Atque  utinam  (fili  suavissime) 
eo  loco  sint  res  vestra?,  ut  hoc  fieri  posset.  An  tu  censes,  cum 
omnes  omnium  mentium  aditus  ac  meatus  obscurissimis  idolis,  iisque 
alte  ha;rentibus  et  inustis,  obscessi  et  obstructi  sint,  veris  rerum  el 
nativis  radiis  sinceras  et  politas  areas  adesse  ?  Nova  est  ineunda 
ratio,  qua  mentibus  obductissimis  illabi  possimus.  Ut  enim  phreneti- 
corum  deliramenta  arte  et  ingenio  subvertuntur,  vi  et  contentione  effe- 
rantur,  omnino  ita  in  hac  universali  insania  mos  gerendus  est.  ...  Ut 
modus  innoccns  sit,  di  gst,  nulli  prorsus  errori  ansam  et  occasionem 
pra;beat?  iit  vim  quandam  insitam  et  innatam  habeat  tum  ad  fidem  con- 
ciliandam,  tum  ad  pellendas  injurias  temporis,  adeo  ut  scientia  ita  tra- 
dita  veluti  planta  vivax  et  vegeta  quotidie  serpat  et  adolescat?  ut  ido- 
neum  et  legitimum  sibi  lectorem  seponat,  ct  (|uasi  adoptet  .^  Atque  Invc 
omnia  pntstitcrim  necne,  ad  tcmpus  futurum  provoco. —  Temporis  Par- 
tus .Mascu/us,  1 1 . 


23 


APPENDIX   D. 

Cogitavit  et  illud  ;  rem  quam  agit,  non  npinionem,  scd  opus  esse; 
eamque  non  secta?  alicujus  aut  placiti,  sed  utilitatis  et  amplitudinis  im- 
mensae  fundamenta  jacere.  Itaque  de  re  non  modo  perficienda,  sed  et 
communicanda  et  tradenda  (qua  par  est  cura)  cogitationem  suspicien- 
dam  esse.  Reperit  autem  homines  in  rerum  scientia  quam  sibi  viden- 
tur  adepti,  interdum  proferenda,  interdum  occultanda,  famae  et  ostenta- 
tioni  servire  :  quin  et  eos  potissimum  qui  minus  solida  proponunt,  solere 
ea  qune  afferunt  obscura  et  ambigua  luce  venditare,  ut  facilius  vanitati 
suae  velificare  possint.  Putare  autem,  se  id  tractare  quod  ambitione 
aliqua  aut  affectatione  polluere  minime  dignum  sit :  sed  tamen  neces- 
sario  eo  decurrendum  esse  (nisi  forte  rerum  et  animorum  valde  imperi- 
tus  esset,  et  non  explorato  viam  inire  vellet)  ut  satis  meminerit,  invete- 
ratos  semper  errores,  tanquam  phreneticorum  deliramenta,  arte  et  in- 
genio  subverti,  vi  et  contentione  efferari.  Itaque  prudentia  ac  morige- 
ratione  quadam  utendum  (quanta  cum  simplicitate  et  candore  conjungi 
potest),  ut  contradictiones  ante  extinguantur  quam  excitentur.  Ad 
hunc  finem  parare  se  de  naturae  interpretatione  atque  de  natura  ipsa 
opus,  quod  errores  minima  asperitate  destruere,  et  ad  hominum  sensus 
non  turbide  accedere  possit ;  quod  et  facilius  fore,  quod  se  non  pro 
duce  gesturus,  sed  ex  natura  ipsa  lucem  praebiturus  et  sparsurus  sit,  ut 
duce  postea  non  sit  opus.  Sed  cum  tempus  interea  fugiat,  et  ipse  rebus 
civilibus  plus  quam  vellet  immistus  esset,  id  longum  videri  :  praccertim 
cum  incerta  vita?  cogitaret,  et  aliquid  in  tuto  collocare  festinaret.  Venit 
ei  itaque  in  mentem,  posse  aliquid  simplicius  proponi,  quod  in  vulgus 
non  editum,  saltern  tamen  ad  rei  tarn  salutaris  abortum  arcendum  satis 
esse  possit.-^  Atque  diu  et  acriter  rem  cogitanti  et  perpendenti,  ante 
omnia  visum  est  ei,  Tabulas  Inveniendi,  sive  legitimae  Inquisitionis 
formulas  in  aliquibus  subjectis,  proponi  tanquam  ad  exemplum,  et  op- 
eris  descriptionem  fere  visibilem.  Neque  enim  aliud  quicquam  reperiri, 
quod  aut  vera  viae  aut  errorum  devia  in  clariore  luce  ponere,  aut  ea  quae 
afferuntur  nihil  minus  quam  verba  esse  evidentius  demonstrare  possit : 
neque  etiam  quod  magis  fugiendum  esset  ab  homine  qui  aut  rei  dififideret 
aut  eam  in  magis  accipi  aut  celebrari  cuperet.  Tabulis  autem  propositis 
et  7'isis,  iion  a?/ibi\;erc  quiii  timidiora  iiigenia  subitiira  sit  (jiicrdaiii  hcesi- 
tatio  et  fere  despcratio  de  similihtis  Talnilis  in  aliis  inateriis  sive  sub- 
jectis conjiciendis  ;  atque  ita  sibi  in  exenip/o  g?atuiaturos  ut  etiam  prcE- 
cepta  desiderent.*  Plurimoruni  autem  studia  ad  usum  Tabtilarutn 
supremufn  et   ultimum,   et  clavetn   ipsam    interpretationis  poscendam 

*  Cicero  and  Cxsar  botli  use  tlie  verb  desidere  to  express  simple  loss.  The  strong  adversa- 
tive with  which  the  following  sentence  begins  plainly  shows  that  such  is  its  meaning  here. 


24 


arrecta  fore :  ac  fmtlto  nj-deJitins  ad  no-i'a^i  fade??:  iiatnrcr  saltcni 
aliqua  ex  parte  insendatn^  quce  per  hujusuiodi  clavciJi  resignata  sit  et 
in  conspcctuDi  data.  I'^criuii  sibi  in  animo  esse,  iiec  propria  7iec  alionan 
desiderio  servienti,  sed  rei  cojiceptet  cofisnlenti,  Tahulis  cum  aliqtiibus 
co?fi7)77inicatis,  reliqua  cohibere,  do7iec  tractatus  qui  ad  popuhi7)i  pcrti- 
7iet  edatur.  Et  tamen  animo  providere,  ingenia  firmiora  et  sublimiora. 
etiam  absc|ue  majoribus  auxiliis,  ab  oblatis  monitos,  reliqua  ex  se  et  spera- 
turos  et  potituros  esse.  Fere  enim  se  in  ea  esse  opinione,  nempe  (quod 
quispiam  dixit)  prudentibus  ha?c  satis  fore,  imprudentibus  autem  ne 
plura  quidem.  Se  nihiIo7/n7ms  de  cogitatis  tiil  i7itcr7>iiss7iru7/i.  Q7tod 
autem  ad  tabulas  ipsas  attifiet,  visum  est  nimis  abruptum  esse  ut  ab 
ipsis  docendi  initium  sumatur.  Itaque  idonea  qua;dam  prrefari  opor- 
tuisse ;  quod  et  jam  se  fecisse  arbitratur,  nee  universa  qua^  hucusque 
dicta  sunt  alio  tendere.  Hoc  i7is7/per  velle  ho7ni7ies  7t07i  latere,  7i2tUis 
inve7iie7tdi  for7}7uUs  {77707 ett7i77C  ap7id  ho7ni7ies  et  artcs  recepto)  7teccssita- 
te7n  i777ponere ;  sed  certe  077inibus  perte7itatis,  ex  777ulto  usu  et  7ion77ulio 
ut  putat  J7(dicio,  ea777  q7ia777  proba^int  et  exhib7iit  i77q7iirei7di  forfH7ila77t 
verissiina7n  atque  7itilissi77iatn  esse.  iVec  tamen  se  officere  q7iomi7ius  ii 
qui  otio  777agis  ab7mda7it,  a7<t  a  dijfic7iltatib7ts  q7ias  pri7770  expcriet7te7n 
seq7ii  7ieccsse  est  liheri  ja777  eru77t.  a7it  777ajoris  etia77t  et  altioris  S7t7it 
i7igenii,  re77i  i7i  poti7ts  pcrd74ca7it ;  7ia7/!  et  ipsiu/i  statiiere,  arte777  i77've7ii- 
C77di proc7ildubio  C7i7n  i7ive7itis  adolescere.  Ad  extremum  autem  visum 
est  ei,  si  quid  in  his  qua?  dicta  siuit  aut  dicentur  l)oni  inveniatur,  id 
tanquam  adipem  sacrificii  Deo  dicari,  et  hominibus,  ad  Dei  similitudi- 
nem,  sano  affectu  et  charitate  hominum  bonum  procurantibus. —  Cogitata 
et  Visa. 


Wi2S7*KiH 


RZ-X5 

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